10th Google Doodle belongs to London 2012 Synchronized Swimming

As Google continues to celebrate the Summer Olympics with its doodles, the theme of Sunday – the tenth day of the sporting extravaganza – is London 2012 Synchronised Swimming.

The doodle depicts a team of female synchronised swimmers performing a routine. London 2012 synchronised swimming doodle is the tenth Google doodle during the ongoing Olympic Games and only the second on synchronised swimming in the history of Google doodles.

The first synchronised swimming doodle was posted on August 24, 2004 during the Athens Olympics. Russia has won the most golds in Olympic synchronised swimming followed by USA.

Synchronized swimming competitions at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London are scheduled to be held from Sunday 5 August to Friday 10 August, at the London Aquatics Centre. Two medal events are included in the programme—woman’s duet and women’s team—with 104 athletes expected to participate.

Synchronised swimming is a mix of swimming, dance and gymnastics that is performed to music from underwater speakers. Synchronised swimming is considered to be the most glamorous of all the Olympic sports.

The rules of synchronised swimming dictate that the swimsuits worn by the athletes cannot be transparent and participants cannot wear swimming goggles or other additional clothing, though a nose clip made of hard plastic or wire with a thin rubber coating is allowed.

There are two synchronised swimming medal events at London 2012 – duet competition and team competition. There are 104 participants for the synchronised swimming events. Only eight countries participate in both the events and the other 16 countries compete in only the duets event.

London 2012 synchronized swimming – Google Doodle Youtube Video

TIME reporter Sean Gregory joins the women in the USA Olympic synchronized swimming team to experience just how tough the sport really is: watch the video